Following an open bidding process with multiple applicants, Bulgaria and Peru have been awarded the hosting rights for the inaugural FIVB Boys’ and Girls’ U17 World Championships 2024, respectively.

From 17 to 24 August, Peru is set to showcase its new generation of female players on the international volleyball stage. The nation will be aiming for its young talent to emulate the success of their predecessors, the silver medalists at the Olympic Games 1988, in the future.

Following its successful hosting of the FIVB Volleyball World Championships in 2018, Bulgaria will welcome athletes and fans once again from 24 to 31 August. With Bulgaria men’s team claiming silver at the FIVB Boys’ U19 World Championship 2021, the younger generation of players will battle it out for the championship title in the U17 category.

The host nations of the respective competitions will be joined by 15 youth national teams from all five Continental Confederations, namely:

Girls’ edition: Peru (host), Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Chinese Taipei, Croatia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Thailand, Türkiye.

Boys’ edition: Bulgaria (host), Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Chinese Taipei, Cuba, Egypt, Iran, Italy, Libya, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Spain, Tunisia, Uzbekistan.

Due to the CAVB girls’ qualifying tournament, held from 2-7 December 2023, featuring only three teams, instead of a minimum of four, an exception was approved by the FIVB Board of Administration to allocate one qualification place to the champion of the African girls’ qualifier, Egypt, to ensure the principles of universality. The remaining two places have been awarded to the two best fourth-place national teams from the remaining continental qualifiers based on the Girls’ U19 world ranking: Thailand (ranked #5) and Dominican Republic (ranked #13).

The tournaments present an incredible opportunity for this young generation of players to showcase their talents on the world stage. Volleyball’s rising stars will emerge from the U17 World Championships and keep shining in their future sporting careers.

For the first stage of each U17 World Championship, the teams will be divided into four single round-robin pools of four. Their final standings in these pools will determine the starting positions in the single elimination rounds, which include the round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and finals at each level of the playoff bracket. The list of qualified teams and the date of the drawing of lots will be confirmed later in March.

Jedinstvo STARA PAZOVA have crowned themselves winners of the 58th edition of the women’s Serbian National Cup, thereby claiming their second title in history and the first one since their maiden victory in 2017. On the other hand, Vojvodina NOVI SAD won a record 16th title in the men’s competition, which celebrated this season its 59th edition. The final matches were watched by some 2,500 spectators in the city of Obrenovac.

In the women’s final match, Jedinstvo STARA PAZOVA, which earlier this season made their historic debut in the pool stage of the elite women’s Champions League, defeated the hosts of the tournament, Tent OBRENOVAC, by 3-2 (25-14, 28-30, 14-25, 25-16, 16-14) at the end of an incredibly hard-fought match that lasted for 132 minutes.

In the men’s final, Vojvodina defeated Mladi Radnik POŽAREVAC by 3-1 (25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21) after 121 minutes of play.

Una Vajagić, receiver of Jedinstvo, was named the MVP of the finals in the women’s competition, whereas the same award went to Žarko Ubiparip, receiver of Vojvodina, in the men’s final.

The winners’ trophies were presented to Milica Medved, team captain of Jedinstvo, and Žarko Kisić, team captain of Vojvodina, by Djula Mešter, President of the Volleyball Federation of Serbia and Olympic champion from Sydney 2000, and Ivan Knežević, Secretary General.